


In a mellow tone

by iwantchocopie (hyemiyah)



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-09
Updated: 2016-05-09
Packaged: 2018-06-07 08:53:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6797416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hyemiyah/pseuds/iwantchocopie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jongin finds himself lost, until a taxi driver stops and picks him up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In a mellow tone

**Author's Note:**

> Dear prompter,  
> I really hope you enjoy my small effort.  
> Thank you Kai, for being incredibly patient with me.  
> Thank you Alicia, for carefully looking over this.  
> Thank you Ansa, for your help and understanding, as well as Rin, for helping me with all my ballet inquiries.  
> You’re wonderful people and I’m lucky to have you in my life.
> 
> (Prompt #65)

 

 

 

  
Jongin sighs and presses the green button on his phone. It's sunny so Jongin has to cover the screen with his hand in order to see Sehun's face a bit more clearly.  
  
"You missed all of your morning classes," Sehun says in that monotone voice of his.  
  
"I only had one morning class today, Sehun-ah." Jongin squints; it's really hard to see Sehun's face. Not that it makes any different since Sehun's face is mostly expressionless.  
  
"That doesn't change the fact that you skipped class without telling me." Jongin feels a pang of guilt. Sehun's been his best friend since elementary school and Jongin knows how seriously he takes skipping class without telling the other.  
  
But Jongin's reason for skipping class is completely selfish. And for some unknown reason, Jongin wants to keep the secret to himself, as if that made any difference. Jongin is reminded of a soft, soothing voice and sad eyes. About jazz music and parts of Seoul Jongin never knew existed.  
  
Suddenly, Baekhyun's face fills up most of the screen, and Jongin steps as far away from his phone as possible. "Jongin-ah, as your hyung and mentor, I-"  
  
"You're not my mentor, hyung," Jongin groans. A few passerby stare at him and at the noise coming from his phone. It's lunch hour so Jongin's friends are either in the cafeteria, or in one of the restaurants across campus. It’s loud and Baekhyun is trying to make himself be heard over the crowd. Baekhyun's loudness could easily be categorised as noise pollution.  
  
Baekhyun clears his throat; he's loud even when he does just that. "As your hyung and mentor," He repeats; Jongin just rolls his eyes this time. "I demand you to come here. Sehun's been miserable since he found out you were skipping class without him."  
  
"No, I haven't." Jongin can hear Sehun's voice, but Baekhyun's face is still taking up the entire screen.  
  
"I have a performance tonight." This much is true, but Jongin's been training to be a professional ballet dancer for more than a decade and he's had performances before. He gets nervous, but it's different this time. "I needed some time alone."  
  
There's silence on the other end of the video call, maybe the connection got cut out or Jongin's words stunned his friends into silence. He sees Baekhyun and Sehun fighting for the phone though and wonders if they heard him at all. Then the connection stabilises and all Jongin hears is Jongdae's loud laughter. Sehun wins back the phone and ends the video call, only to switch to texting.  
  
_’I'm sorry about the hyungs. Call me if you need anything.’_  
  
Jongin knows he's being unreasonable and unfair to his friends. They've always been there for him before, and even though sometimes Jongin commiserates with Kyungsoo when his friends play pranks on them, he knows they're good people. The best people to talk to whenever feeling down about failing a subject or getting rejected by a love interest.  
  
But whatever Jongin is trying to accomplish today has nothing to do with college or love, at least not exactly. Jongin types a quick 'don't worry about it', and puts his phone back in his sweatshirt pocket. He extends out a hand and a taxi stops, but the man inside isn't the one Jongin is looking for.  
  
  
  
  
  


✣✣✣

  
  
  
  
  


  
Jongin had been sleeping poorly the last few weeks and was having doubts whether to show up at the venue at all. He was sweaty and had arrived three hours early to go through his part once again. Even though his part was minor and he didn't get to be on stage for that long. Jongin knew the pressure was getting to him, that being a part of the Seoul Ballet Theatre was something he had been dreaming his entire life and now it was happening. He knew how important this play was to the cast and the crew, and he didn't want to ruin it with his insecurities.  
  
He had been looking for an escape or a place to run to, when a taxi stopped in front of him. He didn't have any place in mind when he hopped in so when the driver asked him where he was heading, all Jongin said was “Anywhere but here.” And he was lucky the driver obliged.  
  
When Jongin looked up from his phone, which he had been staring at intently, worried one of his sunbaes was going to call and scold him for being so irresponsible, he was in a part of Seoul he failed to recognise.  
  
"Uhm, where are we?" He found himself asking the driver. He turned to look behind him and he could see the Namsan Tower somewhat near. But the shops on the side of the road had names like MI MADRE. "Is this Gangbuk?" Jongin didn't even notice when they had crossed to the other side of the river.  
  
"Itaewon," the driver said. Jongin noticed he was young for a taxi driver. Or at least his reflection looked it in the rear view mirror. He had a soothing voice, too, though his eyes made him look mature. "I like this place a lot. There's a second hand bookstore right there." The driver pointed to the left side without taking his eyes off the road and Jongin could see a tiny store that had the sign FOREIGN BOOK STORE in big green letters. He could also see books stacked by the window. "The owners are an old couple, really sweet. They have a cat. It's one of my favourite places in the city."  
  
Jongin's lived in Seoul his entire life, yet he never knew about this place. He knew about Itaewon, about the foreign shops and the foreigners walking the streets, each talking a different language, perhaps. But he didn't know about this place. It looked like a hidden place that Namsan Tower loomed over.  
  
"It's pretty," he said, mostly to himself than to the person driving him. He heard the man chuckling a little and remembered he probably didn't have enough money to cover the fare. Just how long had he been riding in the back of that car?  
  
But when Jongin checked, the chronometer had stopped at 10,000 won.  
  
"If you take a right here you'll find the War Memorial of Korea. Most Koreans don't know it exists though." Jongin sure didn't know about its existence, and he's sure his friends didn't know about it either. "Which is weird because it has a lot of hard weapons on display. Including planes and statues."  
  
"Which station is this? And which line?" Jongin took out his wallet, he had a 10,000 won bill and some lose change. He wondered if the chronometer had broken without the driver noticing.  
  
"Noksapyeong Station, Line 6. Or Samgakji Station, also Line 6, or 4 if you like. I prefer Noksapyeong though, I like that station. It has five underground levels and a glass dome on top of the building. It's quite nice."  
  
Jongin started wondering how many years had the man been driving that taxi. How long before he started to gather so much knowledge of the city. Before this little escapade all he knew about subways was that he had to change to Line 2 in City Hall to go to dance practices and in Sinseoldong to go to his performance venue.  
  
But the music was soothing, it reminded Jongin of the calm before his contemporary jazz dance lessons, when he was still a teenager. His teacher was a middle age man who loved jazz, and Jongin liked to get to the academy early and read with his back to the mirrors, while his teacher listened to old jazz records.  
  
"What are we listening to?" Jongin asked out of curiosity, he had stopped checking his phone every five seconds to look out the window instead. It was a little after 4 in the afternoon so the city was starting to get busy with kids leaving school and some people getting off work.  
  
"Oh, you like jazz? It's Duke Ellington and his orchestra,” the driver replied cheerfully. Jongin thought it odd for him to be using formal language and in an impulse told him to drop the honorifics and call him by his name.  
  
"I'm Kim Jongin, and I don't know much about jazz, but I had a teacher who used to listen to it before practices." Jongin doesn't mention that despite being a ballet dancer the only musical references he has are Drunken Tiger and Tiger JK. They were crossing the river now. And Jongin would really never get over how beautiful it was. "I love the Han,” he added as an afterthought.  
  
"Have you ever crossed Banpo Bridge before?" the driver asked.  
  
Jongin looked at the man's reflection in the rear view mirror and saw that the man was looking at him too. There was something weird about him; he was not only too young to be a taxi driver, but he wasn’t dressed like one either. The shirt he was wearing was neatly ironed and buttoned up, and it also looked expensive. His card read Kim Yongha. And even though Jongin couldn't really look at his face from this vantage point, he noticed that the driver had the sleeves of his shirt neatly rolled up and that he had pretty muscular forearms and that his hands looked clean and strong, too.  
  
"I think I have," Jongin said, feeling a bit self-conscious all of a sudden. He wasn't sure if the man, Kim Yongha ahjussi, was still staring at him and for some reason Jongin couldn't gather the courage to check. "Uhm, is your chronometer broken? I noticed it has stopped at 10,000 won. I'm sure it must be twice the price by now."  
  
Jongin could feel the smile in the man's voice when he started laughing quietly. "It's okay, Jonginie. I took you to all the places I wanted to visit anyway so I won't charge you more. It was nice to have company." And the way he said it; the way the man pronounced his name made Jongin blush all the way up to his cheeks. It sounded familiar and right, and it made Jongin's heart pound loudly against his ribs.  
  
"It's so pretty," Jongin heard himself saying, but he wasn't sure if he was talking about the Han or the man's voice, or his strong arms and the way he had made Jongin's insecurities vanish and his anxiety disappear.  
  
"Yes, it is."  
  
  
  
  
  


✣✣✣

  
  
  
  
  


  
"So now you're trying to find this taxi driver ahjussi and you're hopping in every taxi you can find?" Sehun's voice is still monotone in the phone, but Jongin doesn't have to look at him to know he's judging him.  
  
A sigh. "I told you he wasn't an ahjussi. He was around our age, maybe a bit older."  
  
"Sure, if by a bit you mean twenty years older." Jongin wonders if it was a bad idea to tell his best friend about his little adventure, but he's in desperate need. He doesn't have to be at the venue for a couple more hours, but now the insecurities and anxiety he was feeling the day before are resurfacing.  
  
He was praised by his female sunbaes and a few of his male sunbaes even patted him on the back and told him he did an excellent job. Jongin had been at ease on stage, his movements flowed naturally and he always pointed his toes. He's been rehearsing this forever, but the clarity he had on stage last night was something he had never experienced before. He was lucid and it was as if his body were moving on its own, remembering exactly where to go and what to do.  
  
Yet, when Jongin went to bed later, he realised he couldn't sleep, that perhaps it had all been a one-time thing and he was going to mess up the performance the day after. So after a couple of restless hours in bed and a few awful nightmares, he decided that he needed to find taxi driver Kim Yongha and ask him to drive him around Seoul.  
  
"Look," Sehun says, and there are traces of seriousness in his voice now. "I know you're nervous about tonight, but didn't you say you were good yesterday? I mean, it's you. You're going to be fine. Just go and do what you always do."  
  
As grateful as Jongin is about his friend's blind faith in him, he doesn't feel at ease. It's as if something were missing from him. As if some part of him had stayed in Kim Yongha's cab, as if the time they spent together travelling around the city had been a catalyst. To what is exactly what Jongin is trying to figure out right now.  
  
  
  
  
  


✣✣✣

  
  
  
  
  


  
After they crossed Banpo Bridge they both fell into what Jongin would categorize as a comfortable silence. He was still a bit anxious, but that night's performance had nothing to do with it. Instead Jongin thought about how nice it would have been if he were sitting in the passenger's seat, watching the driver's expressions as he reacted to whatever Jongin had to say.  
  
"Did you know there are twenty seven bridges that cross the Han?" Jongin was a bit startled to hear the man's voice again though it was soothing. It was all contradictory; Jongin felt incredibly at ease, but at the same time there was something that was making him anxious. He realised they were not far from the venue. "Which one's your favourite?"  
  
Twenty seven bridges. This was something Jongin had learnt in elementary school; Jongin wasn't even sure he had crossed them all. Yet, he still took his time to think about the question. They'd just crossed Banpo, and he'd been crossing Dongho to go to practices. He used to cross Jamsil Bridge a lot, back when he lived with his parents instead of the university dorm, and he wanted to go visit Sehun.  
  
"Cheongdam Bridge," Jongin said earnestly. He could see the man smiling in the rear view mirror. A thought crossed his mind, then. Jongin not only wanted to see that smile up close, but he also proud of the fact that he had been the one that put that smile on the man's face. And a big part of him wanted to do it again and again and again.  
  
"It's funny," the man replied, and Jongin's heart skipped a beat because even though he couldn't see the smile anymore, he was sure he could hear it in his voice. "It's my favourite, too. I've always loved the architecture around Ttukseom."  
  
"I wouldn't live anywhere else." Jongin said then, and he wasn't sure if he was talking to himself or to the man driving. Ever since he got into the car, Jongin wasn't sure who he was talking to. He'd never been so chatty before, and he wondered why it was so easy to talk to a complete stranger.  
  
"Me neither."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
A few minutes later they were back at Seoul Arts Center.  
  
"This is you, I assume."  
  
Jongin took out his wallet and offered the man the only bill he had. "I'm sorry, but I didn't know I was going to be taking a taxi today.”  
  
"It's okay,” the man said, and turned in time to watch Jongin getting out of the car. "Break a leg?"  
  
"I hope not." Jongin joked, and before he knew it he was back to where he had been a couple of hours earlier. But this time he wasn't anxious or insecure; he was calm and collected. He knew he was going to break a leg.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
It wasn't until the performance was over that Jongin realised he never told the man where he was going, or why he needed to be back at the Arts Center. He never told the man he was part of the ballet theater at all.  
  
  
  
  
  


✣✣✣

  
  
  
  
  


  
"I don't know what surprises me the most: that you fell in love with a taxi driver ahjussi or that he didn't recognise a national rising star like yourself." Jongin groans loudly at hearing Baekhyun's voice at the other side of the line. "You, my subordinate. My minion. My padawan."  
  
Jongin hears Sehun yell a, "Sorry, Jongin-ah. I had to tell someone. I didn't know what I could do to help." And Jongin closes his eyes thinking how could _Baekhyun hyung_ be the first person Sehun can think of when he’s trying to help. Maybe by help Sehun means he's trying to kill Jongin, in which case, yes, the advisable thing to do would be call Baekhyun hyung.  
  
"I'm not your subordinate, hyung. Or your minion. Or your padawan. All you have ever taught me was how to cheat on exams without teacher's noticing." And that has got Jongin nowhere since he's either too tired or too anxious to ever cheat in exams. He yells at his phone, hoping Sehun could hear him. "You call this help!?"  
  
Baekhyun gasps, loud enough for Jongin to take the phone away from his ear. "I'm offended. This is an outrage, not only did you deny me, but you also call me useless."  
  
Jongin rolls his eyes; he's sure Sehun is playing video games on his laptop, now that he told Baekhyun about Jongin's current predicament and got that off his shoulders. "Ok, hyung. I'm sorry, but I didn't call you useless. I mean, what can you do to help?"  
  
"You said the ahjussi's name is Kim Yongha?"  
  
"He's _not_ an ahjussi. How many times will I have to tell you? He was a guy. Not much older than us."  
  
"Yeah, yeah, sure. Whatever helps you sleep at night you kinky bastard."  
  
Jongin sighs. He closes his eyes as hard as he can and sighs again. What did he do in his past life to have friends like Byun Baekhyun and Oh Sehun.  
  
"Don't worry my little padawan. Let your mentor and hyung do this. I'll send your senior's name to my peeps and they'll do their thing. Just sit back and relax. Your hyung's got this."  
  
"You're not my mentor." Jongin deadpans. What is Baekhyun even talking about? "And hyung, please don't do anything crazy like print posters or send chain mail. _Please. I'm begging you._ "  
  
Baekhyun laughs at this. Jongin can hear Sehun laughing in the back, too. Jongin is going to kill them both. "Nah, don't worry about it. I'll tell Jongdae to check out the name on his computer and hopefully he'll find your man with his super-duper geek abilities."  
  
Jongin is sure Jongdae is only going to Google search the name or something and then he'll find the same man Jongin has found and they're all going to laugh at Jongin for the rest of eternity. As if Jongin hadn't already Google searched the man's name, and all he found was a middle age man.  
  
  
  
  
  


✣✣✣

  
  
  
  
  


  
"Hello, Jonginie."  
  
Jongin stays still. He tries to shut the entire world up so he can listen to the voice again, even if it’s probably just a product of his imagination. He's too scared to turn around, but he does it anyway. He just got out of yet another taxi, this time the driver was kind enough to let him inside the car even if Jongin's destination was only a couple of blocks away.  
  
"Uhm, hello? Kim Jongin?"  
  
Jongin turns his head slowly. When he meets the man's eyes he feels as if there is only him and this man in the entire world. He's still standing awkwardly and he's sure his mouth is hanging open. The man in front of him smiles, and it lights up his entire face and it reaches his eyes, and then he covers his mouth with the back of his hand, seemingly embarrassed. Jongin wants to tell him not to do that; he wants to look at that smile for a while longer.  
  
"What's this? What's going on?"  
  
It would have been better to say 'hello', but Jongin can see Sehun judging him behind the man and he's pretty sure Baekhyun had something to do with this. Maybe Jongdae did use his super-duper geek powers to find Kim Yongha, only instead of telling Jongin they decided to kidnap him or something equally ridiculous.  
  
"I was looking for you," the man begins. Jongin's feet won't move, he wants to check the time to see how much he has left before he's wanted backstage, but his body won't cooperate. He's afraid his knees will give out on him if he tries to take a step forward.  
  
"Looking for me? Why? Is this about the money? You said it was fine, but I still have the bill. I mean, I think I do." Jongin takes out his wallet, but the man stops him. He backs away before he touches Jongin, and Jongin feels relieved but also hurt. Why is that everything that has to do with this guy makes Jongin feel two opposite things all at once.  
  
The man smiles again, Jongin wants to take a picture of his smiling face so he can see it before any of his performances. And also because it's pretty. But he man soon covers it with his hand again. It's a shame, that such a beautiful smile is being hidden. "No, it's not about the money. I... yesterday... was it good? Did you do well?"  
  
"I... yes," Jongin says, quite sure that's not exactly what the man intended to ask.  
  
Sehun clears his throat as he approaches them both. "Jongin, meet Kim Junmyeon. He came looking for you a while after you hung up on Baekhyun hyung. Seriously, you should've picked up." Jongin stares at Sehun as if he were drilling holes in his skull. "I mean, I know it was Baekhyun hyung calling, but it would have saved you the trouble."  
  
"What trouble?"  
  
"Oh, come on! Weren't you looking for him all day? Getting in all the taxis you could find?"  
  
Jongin colours at this, clearly the man—Kim Junmyeon—had no idea about this.  
  
"You got in all the taxis you could find? Why?"  
  
"I... yes," Jongin knows he's answering with the affirmative to the question. "I was nervous so I just wanted to see if a taxi ride would help me relax?" He's embarrassed and fidgeting with the hem of his sweatshirt, and he feels like a fool. He's probably making one of himself. But when he looks at the man, he sees nothing but concern.  
  
"Did you have to get into all you could find though?"  
  
"No," Jongin says. He can see Sehun roll his eyes at both of them, but right now he doesn't care. "I thought your name was Kim Yongha."  
  
"That's my father, actually. He lends me his car whenever he goes to his friend's place to play go-stop. I'm not allowed to take in customers, but you seemed sort of... lost yesterday so… I just wanted to help you find your way back."  
  
"Wait, do I know you from someplace else?"  
  
Kim Junmyeon smiles again, and this time it's on full display. He doesn't cover it. Jongin thanks the heavens internally. "I'm a TA at HUFS? Korean History? I'm also Jongdae's cousin."  
  
Jongin smiles sheepishly. "So, Jongdae hyung didn't use his super-duper geek powers to find you?" Sehun makes gagging noises.  
  
"What?" Again, that smile. Jongin wonders if he’ll be seeing it a lot. "No, he didn't."  
  
"He only had to open his door when Junmyeon hyung rang the bell," Sehun says. He rolls his eyes yet again. “ You know how when Baekhyun hyung calls you a _rising star_ , he isn’t exactly wrong? I mean, he’s obviously exaggerating, but…” He stares at Jongin, whose face is probably scrunched up in confusion. Then he mouths the word ‘stupid’.  
  
“Huh?” Jongin had no idea. Perhaps he is too immersed in ballet, after all. He looks at the man for confirmation.  
  
“I’d say you are quite popular… at least among the teachers and a few of my first year students.” Junmyeon rubs his neck, seemingly embarrassed about the admission of Jongin’s popularity. When he talks again, his voice is softer. As if he were tiptoeing around Jongin. "So what do we do now?"  
  
"I still have to perform," Jongin says. He's not sure if he's still standing by the sidewalk, or if he's on cloud nine now, but something tells him he's going to perform well.  
  
"I mean after that. Would you like to have a cup of coffee?"  
  
"I'm going home." Sehun deadpans.  
  
"I didn't mean you. I meant Jongin."  
  
Jongin likes Kim Junmyeon more and more.  
  
"Yeah, coffee sounds great. You'll have to wait for the performance to be over though. I'm sorry."  
  
"It's okay. I don't mind. I have tickets." They've been staring at each other for a while. Jongin has always been weirded out about people's eyes on him, but Junmyeon makes him feel incredibly at ease.  
  
"Good."  
  
"Gross," Sehun mumbles, but Jongin is not looking at him. He's still looking at Kim Junmyeon's smile.

 

 

  
  
  
  
  
  


 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. The title comes from Duke Ellington’s In a Mellow Tone.  
> 2\. The performance Jongin was a part of is Seoul Ballet Theater’s BEING. Which had two shows last year, on October 22 and 23. The place of the venue was the Seoul Arts Center.  
> 3\. The Han River divides Seoul in two parts. The north side of the river is called Gangbuk, and the south side is called Gangnam.  
> 4\. All of the places mentioned in this fic—as well as their locations—are real.


End file.
